Buckle



H. C. HODGE Dec. 19, 1933.

BUCKLE Filed July 1932 Patented Dec. 19, 1933 UNITEDQSTATES BUCKLE Hubert C. Hodge, West Haven, Conn, assignor to The American Buckle Company, West Haven,

Conn, a corporation Application July 5, 1932. Serial No.'620,786

7 Claims.

My invention relates toan improvement in buckles primarily designed to be used on the straps of overalls, but not so limited, the object being to produce a simple, compact, convenient and attractive buckle of the class described in which the buckle-frame and loop are preferably, though not necessarily, positively interlocked when the buckle is closed, at which time the ends of the prongs of the loop-member rest upon the outer face of the upper side-bar of the buckle-frame, whilethe inner portions of the prongs are engaged with portions of the back of the buckle-frame, whereby the buckle is held against premature opening in any ordinary conditionsof use.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in a bucklehaving a buckle-frame and loop pivotally connected together and respectively shaped so that the prongs of the loop are positively engaged with the inner faces of adjacentportions of the buckle-frame when they are in their closed positions in engagement with the outer' face of the upper side-bar or top of the frame.

My invention further consists in a buckle such as described, in which the buckle-frame and the prongs of the loop are shaped and proportioned so that when the buckle is closed and the ends of the prongs are engaged with the outer face of the upper side of the frame, they are also positively engaged with the rear faces of adjacent portions' of the buckle-frame, from which they can be released only by springing and so contracting the loop as to bring the respective prongs closer together and thus disengage them from the frame and permit the buckle to be opened.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a buckle embodyingmy invention and designed to have its buckle-frame and loop positively locked when the buckle is closed; v

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof; Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation of a buckle embodying my invention, in which the buckleframe and loop are interlocked when closed but not positively interlocked;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the same;

Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation of another form which a buckle, embodying my invention may assume; and

Fig. 6 is a side view thereof.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown,

the wire buckle-frame consists of a top-bar 10 and side-bar members 11 bent at a right angle thereto and having portions bent inwardly and parallel therewith as at 12, and other portions bent downwardly to form locking-arms 13, the ends of which are flattened and turned upon themselves to form pintle-sockets 14 which embrace the pintle-reaches 15 of a wire buckle- 50 loop comprising prongs 16, side-bars 1'7 and a button-loop 18. The prongs '16, as shown, are formed with symmetrical outwardly-extending locking-bends 19 so related to the locking-arms 13, of the buckle-frame that when the ends of .the prongs 16 are engaged withthe front'face of the top-bar 10 of the buckle-frame, their bends19 will engage with the locking arms 13 of the buckle-frame at points beyond the longitudinal centers thereof, so that the buckle can- 7 not be opened or broken down, as it were, by mere pressure, but only by contracting the loop-member by inward pressure upon its sidebars 17 for the purpose of releasing the lockingbends 19 of the prongs 16 of the buckle-loop 7 from the locking-arms 13 of the buckle-frame. Conversely, after the buckle has been applied to an overall-strap and its prongs have been passed therethrough, it becomes necessary to squeeze the sides of the loop together suificiently to allow the locking-bends 19 of the prongs 16 to clear and pass inward between the locking-arms 13 of the buckle-frame, after which the constriction of the'buckle-loop is removed. The extreme ends of the prongs then will be brought into engagement with the front face of the top-bar of the buckle-frame. For the reception of the locking-bends 19, the lockingarms 13 are bent forwardly as at 20 sufficiently to receive the bends 19, so that the latter, in their locked positions, will not project unduly or at all from the plane of the back of the buckle-structure as a whole.

My improved buckle, as thus constructed, must have its loop-member contracted by inward pressure upon it in its plane before it can be fully closed andpositively locked and must be unlocked in the same manner.

The modified construction shown by Figs. 3 and 4 is substantially identical with the con struction described, save that the locking-bends 21 of the prongs 16 are less pronounced, so that they may be snapped over the shorter locking-arms 22 of the buckle frame without the manual constriction of the buckle-loop in the 105 manner described. In this construction, the buckle may be unlocked reversely by pressure alone without manually constricting the buckleloop, the mechanical difference being that the no locking-bends 21 do not extend beyond the longitudinal centers of the locking-arms 22.

In the modified construction shown by Figs.

5 and 6, the prongs 23 of the buckle-frame are made straight, instead of being formed with locking-bends for engagement with lockingbends 24 produced in the side-bars or members near the pintle-arrns 25 of the buckle-frame. In this case, also, the buckle-loop is formed with a lower-bar 26 instead of with a button-loop 18, as in the other figures described. In this modified construction, the buckle is opened and closed by the snapping back and forth of the prongs 23 over the locking-bends 24 without the manual compression or constriction of the buckle-loop, inasmuch as the buckle-frame and buckle-loop are relatively proportioned and shaped so that the longitudinal centers of the prongs do not extend beyond the centers of the bends 24 when the buckle is closed. It will be noted that in all of the forms of the invention, the distance between the inner faces of the side-members is less than the distance between the outer faces of the prongs at :a common location, whereby portions of the prongs overlap and directly engage with portions of the rear faces of the side-members of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the frame-member.

I claim:

1. A buckle, having a pivotally-united buckleframe and buckle-loop, the latter having prongs, the said prongs being formed with oppositelyextending bends arranged to engage with adjacent portions of the back of the buckle-frame when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front of the top-bar thereof.

2. A buckle having pivotally-united frameand loop-members, the former having a top-bar and the latter having prongs, the said prongs having intermediate lateral extensions in opposite directions to provide overlapping engagement with the rear face of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the framemember.

3. A buckle having pivotally-united frameand loop-members, the former having a topbar and locking-arms terminating in pintlesockets, and the latter having prongs and portions, which pass through the said pintlesockets, the prongs of the loop-member, being laterally, shaped midway to form oppositely-extending locking-bends for overlapping engagement with the rear faces of the said lockingarms of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the frame-member.

4. A buckle having pivotally-connected frameand loop-members, the frame-member having a top-bar and side-members having downwardly-turned ends terminating in pintlesockets, and the loop-member passing through the said pintle-sockets and formed with prongs h a v in g complementary outwardly-extending bends, the said bends overlapping and engaging with the rear faces of the side-members of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the frame-member.

, 5. A two-part buckle having pivotally connected frameand loop-members, the framemember having a top-bar and side-members having downwardly-turned ends terminating in spaced-apart pintle-sockets, said side-members formed with complementary inwardly-extending bends, and the loop-member having complementar-y pintle-reaches passing inwardly through the said pintle-sockets and formed with prongs between said pintle-sockets, the said prongs overlapping and directly engaging with the rear faces of the said bends of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the framemember.

6. A two-part 'buckle having pivotally-connected frameand loop-members, the framemember having a top-bar and side-members having downwardly-turned ends terminating in spaced-apart pintle-sockets, and the loop-member having complementary pintle-reaches passing inwardly through the said pintle-sockets and formed with prongs between said pintle-scckets, the distance between the inner faces of the sideinc members being less than the distance between the outer faces of the prongs at a common location, whereby portions of the said prongs overlap and directly engage with portions of the rear faces of the said side-members of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the frame-member.

'7. A two-part buckle having pivota1ly-connected .frameand loop-members, the framemember having a top-bar and side-members having downwardly-turned ends terminating in if spaced-apart pintle-sockets, and the loop-member having complementary pintle-reaches passing inwardly through the said pintle-sockets and formed with prongs between said pintlesockets, the distance between the inner faces of the side-members being less than the distance between the outer faces of the prongs at a common location, whereby portions of the said prongs overlap and directly engage with portions of the rear faces of the said side-members of the frame-member when the ends of the prongs are engaged with the front face of the top-bar of the frame-member, at least one of the said overlapping directly engaging portions having a bend.

HUBERT C. HODGE. 

